Category: facebook

It’s funny that the FBI can be pronounced as “ef-bee-eye” and “fay-bee-eye”, but nobody pronounces USA as “you-ess-ay”, even though in abbreviations the letters should be read as in the alphabet. It’s also interesting that instead of “El” (L) everyone always pronounces it as L. En-ay-ch-el. It’s incorrect to say “leh”, meaning it’s incorrect to pronounce VLKSM as “vay-el-kay-es-em”. Additionally, abbreviations have a gender and a way to determine it (by a keyword: CIS – it, with certain exceptions – for example, what gender is NATO?)

I just bought a razor at a little shop where at first glance there are no sellers. Not like Amazon Go, which operates on AI and machine learning, but more like a regular street stall “take the goods, throw the money here.” I’ve often encountered such stores on farms, but those are godforsaken places and rarely does anyone stop by accidentally. Here, though, there’s a flow of a hundred people per minute.

In my childhood in Baku, buses used to operate in such a way – at the exit you’d throw a coin to the driver (and of course, he wasn’t watching). Inside other buses with tickets, there was a money box and a request to rewind the ticket (you could rewind as much as you wanted without dropping any money). There were no controllers, just conscience. I wonder, is moving away from a trust-based system in Russia a temporary or an established cultural phenomenon, which should always be taken into account? Why is working on trust considered prestigious worldwide, but not yet achievable in Russia?

I think the issue is with a generation of poorly raised individuals – it should fade away sometime and things will get better. In the States, in many places, this issue has long been gone (probably not everywhere, but I have not been everywhere). For instance, I cannot imagine in the USA that guys around thirty would jump into a doorless Wrangler in a parking lot because it’s more comfortable to drink beer there, and just for fun, “take the wheel” and maybe even honk. Here, there simply are none of these types. None at all.

I visit D3, and there’s a post about political prisoners. Clicked on “expand”, and it’s about carpe diem. A perfect example of why not to use automatic announcements

Our Masha is a good girl 🙂

A small lifehack – in many cases – especially for tourists – it’s advisable to switch to Google Earth for exploring the surrounding area. Earth has long been operational on Chrome and doesn’t require any software installation. It makes viewing photos in context to their location easier, and this helps to decide whether to go somewhere or not. Besides, Google displays objects in 3D in some incredible way – ordinary houses, and even amusement parks are three-dimensional, which is a very big plus. And there, you can also activate many other layers.

Google does not only capture terrain with vehicles but also from their planes, and then combines all data to create a depth map and subsequently a 3D map. This video explains how it works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suo_aUTUpps

Scared? It’s like New Year’s for us

This dude rocks the harmonica with some killer jazz. It’s impossible to pull yourself away, but I’ve got knee surgery scheduled on the day of his concert in DC. Sigh(

https://youtu.be/qMMO4xhe-xA?t=126

I once tried to learn how to play the harmonica, but I never got past ‘Happy Birthday to You.’

A gigantic cockroach (about one and a half centimeters thick) came to my Hyatt pool and asked to return to its room

By the way, cockroaches, like this American one, store their eggs in a special capsule, the ootheca, which some species carry with them, while others hide it in a shelter. And this American one can also fly (actually, that’s how it came to me). Interestingly, almost all cockroaches have wings (except for the Madagascar cockroach and a few other species), but most of them don’t like to use them. Well, that is, they can, if really needed and it’s a matter of life and death. Moreover, even the common household cockroaches, which used to live under the stove in our dorm, have wings. They didn’t consider a student with a slipper as a threat and didn’t bother to fly 🙂

Yellow-headed quakvas (and not only, it’s just on the video) amusingly protest when they have to fly away due to a person passing by. Almost always, like the great white herons, they simply fly a bit further down the road, where I will inevitably come, and it all starts again, happening about five times with each bird. Maybe they just find it fun. They can even fly in, scream, and fly off. I spent half an hour watching one as it patiently waited for prey, carefully tracking something floating by under the water. It caught nothing, and I ran out of patience quicker.

Overall, it turned out to be interesting watching the birds. Probably it’s an age thing 🙂